Candidates attack president's tax cuts, not one another

Friday

Jun 29, 2007 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2007 at 10:43 AM

WASHINGTON -- In a relatively tame debate in which they avoided sharp attacks on one another, the Democratic presidential candidates assailed the tax cuts championed by President Bush and said they would allow most of them to expire at the end of the decade.

WASHINGTON -- In a relatively tame debate in which they avoided sharp attacks on one another, the Democratic presidential candidates assailed the tax cuts championed by President Bush and said they would allow most of them to expire at the end of the decade.

In a 90-minute debate slightly more than six months before the first major presidential primaries and caucuses, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said "we need to get rid of George Bush's tax cuts for rich people, which have distorted the tax system in America. I would use that money to pay for universal health care, to make sure everyone's covered."

He was supported by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, with Obama declaring that "there is no doubt that the tax system has been skewed, and the Bush tax cuts, people didn't need them and they weren't even asking for them."

Clinton harked back to the 1990s during the presidency of her husband, Bill Clinton, saying "we had the creation of 22 million new jobs, a balanced budget and a surplus." She added, "We have to change the tax system, and we've got to get back to having those with the most contribute to this country."

Congress approved two major tax-reduction bills in 2001 and 2003, reducing income-tax rates for all Americans, cutting taxes for many married people, increasing the child tax credit and reducing taxes on dividends and capital gains, which is the profit from the sale of real estate and stock. Most of those tax cuts expire in the next three years.

Although low-income Americans saw some reduction in their taxes, there is no doubt that wealthier Americans received a larger tax break. Bush and his advisers have argued those tax reductions helped fuel an economic recovery.

The only Democrat to stake out a different approach was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. He said he "would replace those Bush tax cuts with tax cuts for the middle class. ... We need to rebuild this economy by being pro-growth Democrats. We should be the party of innovation, of entrepreneurship, of building capital, getting capital for African-American small businesses."

The debate took place last night at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington. The debate panel, which included National Public Radio correspondent Michel Martin and USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham, asked questions focusing on issues of racial inequality, poverty, AIDs and education.

Clinton said the nation has made progress on race, but "for anyone to assert that race is not a problem in America is to deny the reality in front of our eyes. You can look at the thousands of African-Americans left behind by their government with Katrina."

Many of the candidates expressed agreement with one another on major issues. At one point, however, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., took an indirect swipe at Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., over Dodd's 2005 vote to confirm Chief Justice John Roberts. Biden boasted that he had opposed the nominations of Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, who he said have turned the Supreme Court "upside down."

"As some of you know, and some of the people on this stage and the press criticize me for being awful tough on Justice Roberts and awful tough on Alito," Biden said. "The problem was, the rest of us weren't tough enough on them."

Biden never mentioned Dodd's name, but Biden, Clinton and Obama voted against Roberts. All four Democratic senators voted against Alito's confirmation in 2006.

Also taking part in the debate were Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.

Dispatch correspondent Amber Parcher contributed to this report.

jtorry@dispatch.com

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